hp dv2000z RAM upgrade

I have a HP dv200z with 64 x2 AMD turion (1.60 GHz) running 32-bit Vista Business (SP1) with 1 GB of RAM.

Would upgrading to 2GB be worth the effort/cost? The computer is in great shape and I plan to keep it for the foreseeable future. I'm looking for smoother/faster performance.

Are there two 1GB ports in the dv2000?

Any info/advice would be appreciated.

 

Definitely worth the cost...if you have a chance to upgrade it to 3GB then do it! In fact,2GB is required for optimum vista performance...(aero etc)

 

Yeah, upgrading to 2GB would give you a decent boost with Vista. The dv2000z should have no issues with 2GB considering the max I believe is 4GB. As far as the number of slots, there should be 2 and since you have 1GB, it will probably be occupied by 2X512MB sticks. So, if you have no plans of increasing above 2GB, then it might be better to get 2 sticks of 1GB or if you plan on upgrading to more than 2GB in the future get a 1 stick of 2GB for easier upgradability.

 

Pardon my naivety, but can I easily replace the memory sticks myself?

I've never swapped RAM so I don't know how involved the process is nor what is a good price for two 2GB sticks.

 

Yeah, both RAM sticks are easily accessible from a bay underneath the laptop. All you need is a screw driver and the RAM modules are held by clamps on either side and dont need any tools to remove. In any case, the manual linked below on how to remove/install the RAM modules should help...
http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c00724723.pdf

 

Thanks for the link. Seems easy enough.

If I have two 512mb modules now, can I just replace one of the modules with a 2gb module or do the modules have to match?

 

Yeah, you can safely use 2GB + 512MB but you will loose will loose some amount of bandwidth since using unequal sticks wil not allow the system to work in dual channel mode. But, thats not too big of a deal, the only difference will be in benchmarks, in general everyday use it really doesnt matter.

 

Thanks for all your help. Can you recommend a vendor from which to purchase memory?

 

Well, newegg ( http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=381&name=Laptop-Memory) is a good place to start. Plus, some of the memory vendors(like Crucial) have their own online stores.

 

Again, thanks so much for your help. I had no idea upgrading memory was so cheap. I think I'm going to go with two 1gb chips (the computer can hold a max of only 2gbs) from Crucial.

Look forward to the performance improvements.